asked the Minister of Health how many mentally deficient children are awaiting admission to institutions; what were the comparable figures at the same date for 1947, 1948 and 1949; and what steps he is taking to expedite admission.

Figures in regard to mentally defective children are not separately shown.

Even if the figures are not separately shown, could the right hon. Gentleman say what he is doing to expedite the admission of these children to homes? Is he aware that this is a very serious problem?

Within the resources available, we are, of course, adding to the accommodation. I am quite aware of the seriousness of the problem, and if we could make more accommodation available I would be delighted.

Is it not a fact that the right hon. Gentleman is also very short of staff to look after these children? I have had great difficulty in my constituency in finding room for mentally deficient children?

Staff is a little easier now than it was, as a result of improvements in conditions, but staff as well as accomodation is a limiting factor.

asked the Minister of Health if he has considered the report of the West Manchester Hospital Management Committee upon their transport scheme for industrial workers attending the hospital out-patients department; and whether in view of the saving of manhours to industry achieved, he proposes to extend the experiment to other areas.

I am arranging for a report on this scheme to ascertain whether equal savings could be secured by other means.

Is the right hon. Gentleman aware that this decision will give great encouragement to people interested in the scheme which, by the co-operation of management committees, local authorities and industry, has saved 6,000 industrial man-hours?

This is a very imaginative and enterprising scheme by the local people responsible, and I am examining it with very great interest.

asked the Minister of Health what is the position of the patient in regard to his doctor who has resigned from the National Health Service and whether he will still receive his medicines at public expense.

The provision of medicines is restricted by the Act to patients who are receiving general medical services from a doctor taking part in the Health Service. A doctor who resigns is, therefore, no longer able to prescribe medicines for supply without charge.

Surely this is sheer blackmail. If a patient pays contributions weekly, what does it matter what doctor signs the prescription? Because a doctor leaves the National Health Service it does not mean that he has lost his professional competence.

I do not know how often it is necessary to say that people do not qualify for the benefits of the National Health Service Scheme by the payment of weekly contributions, and, therefore, no contractual rupture actually occurs if they are no longer having free medicine. It is for the patient to secure another doctor who is in the Health Service.

Then that is blackmail.

asked the Minister of Health what is the number of persons suffering from tuberculosis and awaiting admission to hospital or sanatorium in the boroughs of Wimbledon and Malden and Coombe, respectively; and the average period of waiting.

I have no special figures for particular local authority areas.

asked the Minister of Health what is the number of aged sick cases awaiting admission to hospital and the average period of waiting in the boroughs of Wimbledon and Malden and Coombe, respectively.

Separate-information is not available for local authority areas.

asked the Minister of Health if he will give details of the action he proposes to take to assist merchant seamen, who are only in home ports for a short time, to obtain the necessary dental and optical treatment during these periods.

I hope shortly to announce arrangements to help British merchant seamen to obtain dental treatment. I do not think many of them have had exceptional difficulty in getting glasses; but if my hon. Friend will inform me of any such cases I shall be glad to make inquiries.

Is my right hon. Friend aware that I have a complaint from a seaman who was unable to have his dentures repaired while in port, and had to go on a voyage for 12 months without dentures?

We are hoping to make arrangements to obviate that in future.

Can the right hon. Gentleman say when he will be able to make his announcement?

Very shortly.

asked the Minister of Health how many local health authorities are in possession of adequate supplies of B.C.G.; and whether he is satisfied that this method or prevention is being made available on an adequate scale and as rapidly as the paramount necessity of preventing tuberculosis demands.

One hundred and sixteen out of 145 authorities in England and Wales have so far had arrangements approved for B.C.G. vaccination at the discretion of chest physicians. They receive the vaccine as they need it, since it cannot be stored. As to the second part of the Question, I would refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave to the hon. Member for Wokingham (Mr. Remnant) on 15th June.

Can the rest of us be told what B.C.G. is? Is it anything to do with O.E.E.C., or anything like that?

A prophylactic given in certain forms of tuberculosis.

asked the Minister of Health whether he will instruct regional hospital boards to arrange for the home treatment of tuberculosis patients, for whom there are no sanatorium beds vacant, by making available to them in their homes the services of chest specialists, portable X-ray facilities and any other facilities necessary for adequate and continuous treatment.

It is part of the normal work of the boards' chest specialists, with the resources of the hospital service available to them, to take part in the home treatment of tuberculosis patients.

Is the right hon. Gentleman aware that only in relatively few areas are the resources of tuberculosis services made available in the homes, and will he, bearing in mind that tuberculosis is five times as common among contacts as among the population, do his utmost to relieve what is an urgent national situation, not only for the sufferers from tuberculosis, but for their families as contacts?

Yes, Sir, I am very well aware of what the hon. Member has stated. Of course, it must always be borne in mind in this very grave matter that the efforts that the service is able to make, result in a fall in the rates of mortality from tuberculosis. The hon. Member will find in the next few weeks that instructions will be issued dealing with those points.

Will the right hon. Gentleman remember that one of the greatest contributions he can make solving this problem is to get on with the provision of houses?

That is the case—and also houses for those who suffer from overcrowding, and not only for those who have overcrowded accounts at the banks.

Would my right hon. Friend consider circularising to all local authorities a copy of the report of the Medical Officer of Health for Portsmouth last year, which gave information concerning control experiments with the use of B.C.G. vaccine?

I should like to see the report. I am quite sure that if it is of use, it is already known to medical officers of health elsewhere, but I will see whether its circulation is necessary.

asked the Minister of Health if he will consult the Medical Research Council, with a view to taking steps to ensure that disinfectants produced by manufacturers satisfy minimum standards of efficacy.

I am already in touch with the Medical Research Council, but, as the hon. Member is aware, this is a very difficult and technical subject.

Will the Minister bear in mind, in any consultations he has, that there is a wide difference between the effectiveness of the various disinfectants on the market unbeknown to those who buy them, and that there is an important public health problem involved?

That is the reason why we have asked the technical authorities to lay down standards, but although this matter has now been pursued for very nearly five years no standards have yet been achieved because of the intricacy of the problem.

asked the Minister of Health what is the average delay between the time of testing and the time of issue of hearing aids in all cases dealt with in hospital in the North-West; and what steps he is taking to decrease this delay.

asked the Minister of Health what is the average waiting period for aural aids in the North-Western area for those who are not on the priority list such as old age pensioners; and what steps he is taking to improve the present situation.

The waiting period varies so much according to individual needs, that averages have no meaning. I cannot at present undertake to increase the facilities in this area.

Is the right hon. Gentleman aware that delays of as much as 14 months are taking place; and is he satisfied that a really concerted and intelligent effort, using the mechanical genius of this country, is being made to tackle this very difficult problem?

The mechanical genius available in this country has been used to tackle this problem for the first time in English history. We have already issued between 80,000 and 90,000 aural aids. The limitation is not the mechanical genius of the country, because we are producing them from the industry faster than we have the technicians to enable them to be given to patients.

While appreciating what has been done, may I ask my right hon. Friend whether he is aware that only 20 cases a week are allowed to go forward from the whole of the area covered by Blackburn, Accrington and Burnley? Does he think that this is satisfactory?

I think my hon. Friend's statement is probably wholly inaccurate.

It is not.

If my hon. Friend will send me the informtion I will have it investigated.

My right hon. Friend has got it.

At present we are sending out over 1,500 a week in the country as a whole.

Can the right hon. Gentleman hold out any hope at all to these old people, many of whom have worked for very many years in industry, that there will soon be shorter periods than two years for them to wait?

I am delighted to note the sense of urgency on the other side of the House on this matter, although it is very belated. It is obvious that at the moment the older ones will have to wait for those who need aural aids in their occupations; that is the reason why the older ones are being subjected to delay.

Am I right in assuming that it was the genius of the Post Office engineers which was mainly responsible for this wonderful instrument?

It was the co-operation between the physicians on the one hand and the Post Office engineers on the other that produced this aural aid.

Is the right hon. Gentleman aware that there are between 10 and 12 people in my constituency who have been waiting for over 12 months?

I dare say that is true; they have now some hope of getting an aural aid where, formerly, they had none.

asked the Minister of Health why the management committees of hospitals conduct their affairs in secret; and why the Press is excluded from management committee meetings.

It is for each committee to decide whether to admit the Press to its meetings, and many, in fact, do so.

Has my right hon. Friend had any strong representations made to him from the public representatives on these hospital management com- mittees to show that when they are trying to improve the service, and find obstruction from officials, only where publicity is sanctioned do they feel they have any influence over the officials?

No, I have not received any representations of that kind. I would ask the House to keep in mind that very often hospital management committees have to deal with very many intimate details of individual cases, and it is not desirable always to make them public.

Will my right hon. Friend nevertheless encourage hospital management committees to the fullest possible extent to issue reports of their proceedings to the Press?

I think that most of them do that, but the Question on the Order Paper concerns the admission of the Press, and I think that ought to be left to the discretion of the management committees.

Does that also apply to meetings at Dorking?

They have had no meetings at Dorking.

asked the Minister of Health what would be the approximate annual saving to the nation if only whole-time medical officers were employed under Part II (Hospital and Specialist Services) of the National Health Service Act, 1946.

I regret that the information is not available.

Am I right in assuming that there will be a saving of about 20 per cent.; and, if so, will my right hon. Friend communicate this to boards of governors when they are re-appointing officers in future?

As I said in my reply, as I do not know what the figures are I cannot say whether the figure of 20 per cent. is accurate or inaccurate.

asked the Minister of Health what steps he takes to ensure that part-time medical officers engaged under Part II (Hospital and Specialist Services) of the National Health Service Act, 1946, are actually employed for the number of notional half-days for which they are paid.

It is the responsibility of hospital boards and committees to see that officers carry out the duties for which they are remunerated.

Is my right hon. Friend aware that some officers are paid for sessions for which they never turn up?

I should like to have information as to that, because it seems to me rather extraordinary.

Will the right hon. Gentleman resist such general allegations without a shred of evidence being produced in their support?

As I said, I should like to see the precise information.

asked the Minister of Health the total annual salary paid to part-time medical officers under Part II (Hospital and Specialist Services) of the National Health Service Act, 1946; and, approximately, what proportion of this payment is for travelling time.

I regret that the information is not available.

asked the Minister of Health if he will issue instructions to regional hospital boards to ensure that local needs are given priority when expenditure on new construction is authorised.

Regional boards already allocate capital expenditure according to the relative urgency of local needs.

As that principle does not seem to be working out in Woking, will the right hon. Gentleman be kind enough to have a look again into a case which is already in his Department?

Certainly, but I should have thought that the regional hospital board had behaved here as it does elsewhere.

asked the Minister of Health the cost of printing and delivering to all medical practitioners in Middlesex a list of all the chemists in Middlesex; and what is the object of doing so.

About #x00A377. It was thought useful for doctors to have this, as they did under the old Health Insurance scheme, but I am consulting the profession as to whether it need now be continued.

Will the right hon. Gentleman bear in mind that an alphabetical and not a geographical list of nearly 1,000 chemists is of no possible interest to a doctor, who knows what chemists there are in his own district and does not want to know what chemists there are in other districts?

This list has to be prepared for patients in the area, so that there is not much additional cost involved.

asked the Minister of Health the number of persons suffering from tuberculosis and awaiting admission to sanatoria in the area covered by the Folkestone Chest Centre; and what is the longest period of waiting.

Forty persons are awaiting admission. The longest period of waiting is 13 months.

asked the Minister of Health the total cost of medicine bottles supplied under the National Health Service in 1949.

I regret that the information is not available.

As the Minister will no doubt agree that it must be quite a large sum, does he not think there might be some economy in this direction if people were encouraged to return medicine bottles?

I have consulted the chemists in this matter, and quite recently we made a reduction in their remuneration. They would rather have the reduction than try to work a system of the return of bottles.

asked the Minister of Health in view of the rising costs of the National Health Service, if he will institute an inquiry into its administration and the salaries now being paid to specialists and administrative staffs.

These matters are kept under constant review.

Has my right hon. Friend had representations made to him to show that there are unnecessarily inflated administrative staffs, or that the salaries paid to some people such as hospital secretaries are, in some cases, over double what they were before the National Health Service; and would he look into those cases with a view to making changes?

An inquiry is being made into these matters, which are always the subject of all kinds of general statements. If I were my hon. Friend, I would take them with a large slab of salt.

asked the Minister of Health if he will now give the reasons why there is no accommodation for maternity cases in Spalding; and what action he proposes to take to ensure that such accommodation is made available.

I am informed that there never has been any such accommodation in Spalding, but that the regional hospital board are now considering the possibility of providing it.

Is the Minister aware that the local authority to whom responsibility has been transferred had plans and premises available, and that this need is very great indeed in that particular area? Is it not a fact that there was some accommodation available in prewar days and until quite recently for the accommodation of these cases?

My information is that there was no accommodation in Spalding, and that the regional hospital board are to try to provide it.

Is it not a fact that the people of Spalding are looking forward to the provision of this urgent necessity, which has been needed for many years, and which they have had no chance of getting before?

asked the Minister of Health if he is aware that regional hospital boards have not yet begun to offer clinical assistantships to general practitioners; and what action he proposes taking.

I know that appointments of this kind have been offered where the needs of the service demand it. If the hon. Member has any particular case in mind I shall be glad to hear of it.

Does my right hon. Friend realise how important it is from everybody's point of view to keep general practitioners in close contact with their local hospital?

I am very well aware of that, and, as my hon. Friend knows, part of the difficulty in this matter is to try to bring about a reconciliation between the conflicting claims of the G.P. on the one hand and the specialist on the other.

asked the Minister of Health if he is aware that the regional hospital boards are ignoring his directive to preserve some local hospitals for the use of general practitioners; and what action he proposes taking.

No, Sir, but I shall be glad to make inquiries if the hon. Member will send me his information.

Will the right hon. Gentleman kindly examine the present position in Boston Hospital?

asked the Minister of Health if he is aware that Mrs. Harriet Pitt, High Holm Court, Louth, who worked for 30 years for the Stoke-on-Trent Education Authority and was granted a pension of 10s. a week has now, at the age of 84 years, had the pension stopped on the grounds of economy; and, in view of the correspondence sent to him, if he will restore the pension.

I have informed the council that if, having had regard to the increased social security payments now available, they wish to continue to pay the 10s. a week to Mrs. Pitt, I am prepared to give the necessary sanction under Section 228 of the Local Government Act, 1933.

On behalf of the old lady, may I thank the right hon. Gentleman for treating her properly?

In justice to the local authority, may I ask whether they were not statutorily bound to wind up this payment? This happened not because they desired this parsimony, but because they had to do it.

Yes, it is a fact that the local authority were restricted by two Acts of Parliament passed before the war to limit the payment to two years, and they had to obtain my permission to extend it.

asked the Minister of Health whether supplies of the specially designed small cars for crippled ex-Service men may also be made available, in terms to be arranged, for similarly handicapped civilians.

I would refer my hon. Friend to my reply on 21st March to my hon. Friend the Member for South Ayrshire (Mr. Emrys Hughes).

Can the right hon. Gentleman arrange some system of priority to provide very badly disabled civilians with some conveyance?

They are allowed, under the National Health Service Act, mechanically propelled tricycles, but not motor cars.

asked the Minister of Health whether, in view of a case which has recently arisen in Gloucestershire concerning the conditions under which local authorities let houses to agricultural workers, particulars of which have been sent to him, he will make it clear to what extent the regulations of his Department compel local authorities to let certain houses only to persons engaged in agriculture.

While the payment of agricultural subsidy is conditional on the reservation of a specified number of houses for members of the agricultural population, the selection of tenants is a matter which has been placed by Statute in the hands of the local authority. I would, however, deprecate action by a local authority to evict a particular tenant merely because he changes his occupation.

While thanking my right hon. Friend for his statement, may I ask him if he will inform the local authority what both of us have in mind about these facts? Will he make them clear?

I think my views on this matter have already been brought to the attention of the local authorities.

Has that been done recently, as I have in my division, a similar case?

Yes, this has been done within the last few weeks. I think that a local authority is not behaving properly when it behaves in this way.

Is the right hon. Gentleman aware that if steps are not taken to stop people taking these cottages as so-called agricultural workers, there will be no benefit to the agricultural community at all?

No, but priorities for agricultural workers given in the last few years have, in many parts of the country, been very greatly to the advantage of the agricultural industry. Indeed, in some instances priorities have had to be refused because of the needs of other applicants for houses.

asked the Minister of Health whether his regulations permit local authorities to ask for the names of prospective tenants of flats converted under their licence from large houses.

Local authorities, in considering applications for licences to carry out works of conversion, are expected to make such inquiries as they may consider reasonable to ascertain to what extent the converted dwellings would help towards meeting the most urgent housing needs.

asked the Minister of Health whether he has considered representations from local housing authorities regarding the postponement of the operation of the one-in-five ratio until 1951; and what answer he has made.

In answer to the very few communications received from local authorities the position has been explained as in the replies given to Questions asked by the hon. Member on 15th June and by the hon. Member for Solihull (Mr. M. Lindsay) on 25th May.

Is the right hon. Gentleman aware that in answer to Questions by my hon. Friend the Member for Billericay (Mr. Braine) and other of my hon. Friends on 4th May, he gave the impression that this cut was to be restored immediately; and is he further aware that the delay in doing so is causing a great deal of disappointment?

No. The explanation is perfectly simple. Most of the houses in the 1950 programme were in hand before this modification was made. It was, therefore, quite impossible to make it retrospective. It will be made in the case of allocations for 1950-51.

Will any local authority which has not yet made arrangements for its full programme be permitted to increase the number of licences?

They ought to have made them by now, and I should be very hurt to hear that a local authority has not made the whole of its allocations for this year. If there is some local authority which has not done so I will certainly have a look at it.

asked the Minister of Health how many applications he has received from local authorities for permission to issue private building permits in excess of a ratio of one in five of their housing allocation; and how many he has granted.

If, as I assume, the hon. Member has in mind the arrangements which I announced on 4th May, the question has not yet arisen since the allocations for 1951 are only now in course of being decided.

Is not the right hon. Gentleman prepared to receive, in exceptional circumstances, applications for additional allocation in 1950?

Obviously not, because if the local authority has been doing its work the 1950 allocations have already been made.

Did not the right hon. Gentleman, a few minutes ago, say that he would be willing to look into any case where the allocation for 1950 had not been made?

I should be very sorry if there were any.

Arising out of the Minister's reply to the supplementary question of my hon. Friend the Member for Chichester (Mr. Joynson-Hicks), is he aware that local housing authorities have been seriously embarrassed in having to explain to applicants for licences, whose hopes were raised, that in his answer to me on 4th May he did not really mean what he said?

The hon. Gentleman is entirely inaccurate. If there is any confusion in the minds of people about this it is probably because of the speeches made by the hon. Members opposite.

Surely the heat shown by the Minister about inaccuracy is entirely unfounded. After all, everyone had the right to assume that when the Minister said something he meant it.

The hon. Gentleman said that when I made a statement I did not mean it. If the right hon. and gallant Gentleman will read the statement I made on that occasion he will realise that there is not the slightest justification for his impudent inference now.

I am about to ask the right hon. Gentleman a question, and may I say, in preface [HON. MEMBERS:"No."] May I ask the right hon. Gentleman whether he really assumes that all the poor people who had hopes raised by his statement that private building was about to increase would read every one of his statements with a lawyer's meticulous accuracy, which it now appears we must apply to everything he says and by which he will be the very great loser?

It was obvious when the statement was made about the variation of ratios that it was bound to apply to new allocations to be made, and could not be made to apply to allocations already made.

In that case, what becomes of the statement which was made by the right hon. Gentleman to the right hon. Lady the Member for Manchester, Moss Side (Miss Horsbrugh)?

I am quite prepared—and this is quite consistent—where 1950 allocations had not been made—and they ought to have been made long ago—to look into the matter.

On a point of order. In view of the fact that the right hon. Gentleman has made use of an expletive at Question time, which I always thought was out of order, in which he referred to my right hon. and gallant Friend's question as an impudent one, would it be in order, Sir, to assert that the right hon. Gentleman's general attitude towards the House at Question time is one of gross offensiveness?

Further to that point of order, I did not refer to the right hon. and gallant Gentleman's question as impudent.

Yes.

I did not. I referred to the impudent inference in the question; and if hon. Members opposite like to give it, they must take it.

Further to that point of order. I have in my hand a copy of HANSARD for 4th May according to which the right hon. Gentleman said that to enable each council to take account of the circumstances in the district he had decided to restore up to one-fifth.

We all seem at the moment to be generating a little more heat than we can contain.

In view of the very unsatisfactory nature of the Minister's reply, I beg to give notice that I will raise the matter on the Adjournment at the earliest opportunity.

asked the Minister of Health whether he has considered the representations made to him as to the serious financial position of the county borough of Burton-on-Trent; and whether there are any steps he can take to ease the position which results in tenants of council houses having to pay as much as 12s 3d. per week in rates alone.

I have considered these representations. The statutory provisions about equalisation grants give me no discretionary power to increase the amount, and I have no other powers in this regard. The Statute provides for review of the working of the equalisation grants in the year of the first new valuation lists.

Would the Minister consider introducing suitable measures to give him the power to help councils who are finding difficulties so far as the rates are concerned?

No, Sir. It is the intention of the Act to try to iron out the inequalities, but there are, of course, always peaks at each extreme.

asked the Minister of Health what were the allocations of houses which the Chichester Rural District Council were entitled to build in 1949 and 1950 respectively; and how long it is estimated under the present allocations it will take to meet the housing needs of the community in that area.

I would refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Salford, East (Mr. Hardy) on 28th April, of which I am sending him a copy.

With respect has the right hon. Gentleman answered the right Question?

I have answered Question No. 36.

Will the right hon. Gentleman say why he replied to the hon. Member for Salford, East (Mr. Hardy) about the number of housing allocations in Chichester?

I said that I would refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Salford, East (Mr. Hardy) on 29th April, of which I am sending him a copy.

In view of the fact that the answer to which the right hon. Gentleman has referred can have no bearing on the question at all, will he now reply to the Question?

I suggest that the hon. Member reads the answer to the hon. Member for Salford, East. first.

asked the Minister of Health whether, in view of the fact that the Bemerton Heath district heating scheme which was originally sponsored by his Department as an experiment has resulted in charges to the tenants greatly in excess of those anticipated, he will alleviate the burden of the rising cost and hardship and reconsider the question and make a special grant to those tenants concerned.

There are no special grants provided for district heating schemes. I am aware that the costs of the Salisbury scheme have, due to a number of factors, exceeded the original estimates. On the other hand, improvements have now been made in the plant which, I hope, will produce more efficient and economical service.

In view of the ever increasing cost of fuel, will the right hon. Gentleman keep an open mind on this matter, because many tenants are in great difficulties at present?

I do not think that the increased cost of this scheme was due to the increased cost of fuel.

Has any district heating scheme in this country ever been a success?

Yes, I think so.

Which one?

asked the Minister of Health if, in view of the number of cases of food poisoning that have arisen lately and the fact that official expert opinion has on more than one occasion drawn attention to the insanitary methods of food handling in this country, he will issue a statement on the subject to be sent to all catering authorities.

This is a complex problem, and I propose to await the report of the Working Party on Hygiene in the Catering Industry before considering further action.

Is the right hon. Gentleman aware that the standard is unfortunately deplorably lower here than, for example, in Scandinavian countries, and that I myself have seen the catering staff of this House hand out pieces of sugar and bread with their hands—a thing which would not be tolerated in Scandinavian countries or in the United States?

I think the standards in the use of food are far lower than they ought to be. I hope that when we get this report we shall be able to take remedial action.

In view of the very serious urgency of this matter, will my right hon. Friend consider not waiting, but issuing model by—laws now?

I think it would be far better to issue by-laws that are likely to be practicable and useful than to act precipitately and merely issue edicts that are not likely to be of much use. I would rather have the technical advice first of all, and issue the by-laws afterwards.

Will the right hon. Gentleman bear in mind that when the paper shortage necessitated the cessation of wrapping bread it was then stated that when paper became more plentiful that would be one of the first things to be done again?

Yes, but I think that that is not a matter for by-laws, but of usage.

asked the Minister of Health if, in view of the nuisance caused to local residents by grit and smut effluent, he will instruct the Liverpool Regional Hospital Board to use in the boilers of Walton Hospital a better grade of fuel than the 1¼ inch washed slack at present used; and if he will authorise the purchase of a grit-arresting plant for use in conjunction with the present boilers.

The Regional Hospital Board is investigating the best solution of this problem.

Will the right hon. Gentleman see that something is done about this, in view of the very serious effect upon the health of people in the neighbourhood?

I understand that the main reason for this is the overuse of the apparatus, rather than in the nature of the fuel used.